Celebrate Audrey Hepburn’s Birthday With the Little Black Dress She Wore Best

“Everything I learned I learned from the movies,” Audrey Hepburn once said—and everything—well, okay, practically everything—we learned about the glory of the little black dress, we learned from your movies, Ms. Hepburn! The iconic actress, who was born 89 years ago today, was famous for cloaking her willowy frame in an LBD, the wardrobe essential that we have come to rely on for nearly a century.

“. . . I don’t need a bedroom to prove my womanliness,” Hepburn told us, “I can convey just as much sex appeal picking apples off a tree or standing in the rain.” And indeed, whether she was hiding in the leaves as the chauffeur’s daughter in Sabrina, or climbing a library staircase as a bookworm turned mannequin in Funny Face, or searching for “Cat” in a storm in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Hepburn’s allure was irresistible. (Her Breakfast at Tiffany’s LBD set a record in 2006, when it was auctioned for £410,000, six times the original estimate.)

Coco Chanel’s little black dress arrived on the scene in 1926, three years before Hepburn was born, and was so accessible and so appealing that Vogue immediately dubbed it “Chanel’s Ford,” proclaiming it “a sort of uniform for all women of taste.” “I imposed black,” the designer declared. “Black wipes out everything else around.” Karl Lagerfeld, who has held the reins at Chanel for the past 35 years, alleges that “one is never over-dressed or underdressed with a little black dress,” and indeed, we accomplish this sartorial sleight of hand whenever we take one of our trusty LBD friends out of our closet.

To wish Hepburn a happy birthday and help you celebrate this great lady in style, we have gathered a gaggle of this season’s best little black dresses—from ruffled to strappy, lacy to sequined, shy sheaths to bold poufs.